Pet Scan and the Dreaded Phone Call

Hard to title this one and not make it sound like the Pet Scan was bad.  Jerry went to OKC by himself Sunday night -- had the Pet Scan and the Heart Scan done Monday morning -- got the CD from the lab -- and drove all the way back here to Kingston Monday afternoon (yesterday).

Jerry arrived right at 5:00 when I decided to put Jackie on her leash and go outside the fence for a walk to see if we could walk together with her on a leash.  I was just getting the hang of how NOT to have the leash cord wrapped around my legs three times while Jackie tried to WALK ME sideways!  I was sure glad to see Jerry when I got to the driveway.  He grabbed his things from the truck and went right into his office.  I unwrapped myself from Jackie, put her in the back yard, and I went in his office where he already had the Scan CD loaded in his computer.

It takes at least five minutes for the CD to load to the point you can see anything.  As we were both sitting there waiting for pictures of white bones and black innards to show up on the screen, Jerry's phone rang.

Now, Jerry has this really ODD thing he does.  He never answers his phone until he picks it up -- holds the phone in front of his face -- stares at the number displayed at the top of the phone -- and tries to guess who is calling.  Most times, the phone quits ringing before he figures out who it is.

He did all of that and noticed an unfamiliar phone number on the screen and just sat the phone down.  I was there, of course, and I said, "PICK IT UP, JERRY!"  If you answer it, you will KNOW who it is!

He picked it up and there it was -- the dreaded phone call.  The one you KNOW is going to come someday, but you pray it won't be today.  It was Terri, the Manager of the apartments that Jerry's brother, Bob, has lived in for many years.  It is government housing that is really cheap.  You pay what you can afford, or something like that.

Terri told Jerry that mail had been stacking up outside Bob's apartment door for days, and he had not come to the office to pay his rent.  She decided to have someone open his door and check on him.  Whoever did that found Bob lying on his couch where he, according to Police, had been for at least a week, deceased.

As I said, we knew this could happen at any time as Bob had battled the bottle and cigarettes for as long as I've been married to his brother, at least.  He was wounded in Vietnam -- his wife left him -- his son was adopted by the wife's next husband, and Bob just could not seem to overcome all of that sadness and tragedy.  I have often said that if I had seen what Bob had seen in Vietnam, I probably would have been an alcoholic too.  He experienced the worst nightmares there.

The saddest thing is that Bob was an EXTREMELY talented person.  If we find any of his drawings, I will show them to you.  He could fly planes.  He used to work on planes.  He took Jerry up in a plane one time and did all kinds of maneuvers with it.  Jerry thought Bob was amazing, and he loved him dearly.  They were only a year or two apart and were very close growing up.  He had the MOST beautiful handwriting I have ever seen.  Hopefully, I can find a sample of that too.

If you ever told Bob that his work was amazing or his handwriting was awesome, he would growl and say, "It is CRAP!"  None of his work was ever good enough in his opinion.  So sad.  I could not BEGIN to draw a branch from one tree in his picture, never mind draw a picture WITH a pencil OF a pencil that was so realistic, it looked like you could reach down and lift the pencil off of the paper.

Anyway, Bob had gone on.  Jerry witnessed to him a thousand times, and the last time he talked to Bob he asked Bob about the scriptures and the "Sinner's Prayer" that we had enclosed in a get well card to him.  Bob said, "I have taken care of that."  We hope and pray and believe that he did pray that prayer, and that is why God allowed him to leave this world and be free of the misery that tormented his soul.  We hope to see him again one day on the other side.

We have to get back to OKC to make plans for Bob's memorial.  Jerry and Don, the only two relatives, will go through the apartment and look for any important papers on Wednesday.

OH!

The Pet Scan.  Jerry and I finally looked at it.  All we know FOR SURE is that the tumors that were on his spine are ALL GONE!  We haven't talked to the doctor to hear his conclusion of the scans, and we don't really know how to read them, but we know what WAS there before IS NOT there now!!!  Praise God forevermore!!!

Hugs, Joy